I have noticed in Queen's latter recordings (Innuendo, MIH), that Freddie's voice seems very high pitched, nasally and pinched and his vocal range seems to have suddenly broadened. I used some audio software and slowed down some of the music by a semitone or 2, and discovered he sound much more like the "old freddie" circa mid 80s. Do you think he used tape speed techniques to shift his voice during his last year or so while he was ill?
I love his voice there, yeah I doubt any vocal altering was there. If you alter it yourself ofcourse it'll probably sound like Freddie because it is Freddie, you know. Back on his voice, the passion he sung with then was only rivaled during the news of the world era (parts of It's Late and Spread your Wings come to mind).
His tonal range on Innuendo is impressive, his passion is unbelievable and moving. But to me it also sounds a bit pitched, which of course it wasn't - maybe it had something to do with him becoming skinnier, considering his voice and body as a 'biological instrument' maybe it was due to the reduced resonance... ?
if you speed things up only slightly it can end up sounding like Pinky and Perky [ if anyone remembers them]
these days you can alter the pitch without this hapenning. i'm not sure if this technology was available in 1990 /91
It's gotta be pitched - if you listen to "The Hitman" and then listen to "All God's People" the difference in the voice timbre is enormous - also, a lot of chorus and delay/reverb is added to mask this. Just my opinion....